Richard Norton-Taylor February 8, 2001 The Guardian (London) SECTION: Guardian Home Pages, Pg. 3 HEADLINE: Bleak new world, as seen by the MoD: Drought, disease and social unrest - the face of future conflict //VT2002acsln

The MoD raises the prospect of genetic warfare or "biogenetic terrorism" targeting food sources, and micro, unmanned, airborne vehicles (UAVs) developed through nanotechnology.

MAJOR BIOTERRORIST ATTACKS ARE BECOMING MORE LIKELY

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 33

Their unique capacity for gradual destruction already attractive to any group attempting to sow the maximum amount of fear and chaos, biological weapons are becoming an important part of that armamentarium. Jessica Stern, author of The Ultimate Terrorists, warned in a recent paper in the CDC's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases that three trends are boosting the chances for bioterrorism. First, ore groups are willing to take the political risk of causing widespread destruction; second, the biological agents and devices are becoming more readily available; and third, the groups themselves have the kind of decentralized structure that helps them to operate in secrecy. "The intersection of these sets is small but growing, especially for low-technology attacks such as contaminating food or disseminating biological agents in an enclosed space," she wrote. "Major attacks are also becoming more likely."

A BIOTERRORIST ATTACK WILL TAKE PLACE, IT IS ONLY A QUESTION OF WHEN

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. XVII-XVIII

As an expert member of groups that have studied biological terrorism and an adviser to the US, government and others, I do not believe it is a question of whether a lone terrorist or terrorist group will use infectious disease agents to kill unsuspecting citizens; I'm convinced it's really just a question of when and where. The allure of the more deadly and frightening biological weapons has grown, and there's no shortage of people willing to kill for a cause -even a cause of their own imagining. What's more, the tools of bioterrorism are cheaper than ever before, and the skills to put it all together are within the reach of reasonably talented graduate students. Most important, the microscopic killers themselves are uncomfortably accessible, available by. mail or on the Internet or within labs around the world